SportoholicHT Blog2014-09-17T09:40:46ZWordPresshttp://blogs.hindustantimes.com/sportoholic/feed/atom/Hindustan Timeshttp://blogs.hindustantimes.com/sportoholic/?p=7562014-09-17T09:40:46Z2014-09-17T08:50:53ZThis sportoholic knows little of the scoring system and nuances of gymnastics, but can definitely spot a hero while appreciating jaw-dropping moves and beautiful symmetry.

Allahabad boy Ashish Kumar is one such hero. He went where no Indian had gone and took Indian gymnastics to uncharted heights in 2010.

Ashish Kumar fails to land on his feet in men’s vault final during the Commonwealth Games 2014 in Glasgow, Scotland. (PTI Photo)

Then, there was a fall at Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014. I was more stunned by reactions to his fall during the vault final than the actual fall.

People with whom I was watching the event laughed. A few seconds later, the laughter subsided. The damage, however, had been done.

Dear those of you who laughed that day, this sportoholic’s first instinct was to manhandle the laughter out of you because it was painful to see Ashish fail. Your laughter broke my heart. This was no Chaplin movie with crashing rears; it was four years of hard work and dreams crashing.

The immediate afterthought was, “Keep the manhandling away and tell the people about the hero, the difficulties in his path and why we should not laugh.”

I stayed silent because you were genuinely unaware of the damage your laughter had caused. You got the benefit of the doubt because you did not even know the name of the gymnast who fell. You were, however, aware that he was Indian. You waited for his name to flash on the TV screen and moved on.

It made me think — if Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) frames questions around Ashish’s achievements, many a contestant is likely to go looking for lifelines.

Don’t trust me? Hope the KBC folks do pose one on India’s greatest gymnast and you get your answer.

After winning a silver and a bronze in the 2010 CWG in Delhi, Ashish scooped up a bronze in the Guangzhou Asian Games the same year.

Thereafter, the baby-faced star of Indian gymnastics was let down by the system. Lack of proper international exposure probably hurt the most along with lack of institutional planning. He made his concerns known intermittently, but those who mattered did not hear him. If they did, we would be interested in knowing how.

When Indian gymnasts headed for Glasgow, those who had tracked Ashish knew he was riding more on prayers than preparation in a sport where power and precision is the key.

In a way, Dipa Karmakar’s incredible bronze in Glasgow helped hide the gloom around Ashish. It need not be so. The powers that be cannot wish the problem areas away. They should not be allowed to.

In Dipa we have found another gymnastics star, but do not forget the pioneer. Ashish is Dipa’s hero. And, the hero is more than willing to share the limelight with Dipa.

Ashish and Dipa must have reached Incheon by now to lead the Indian challenge. No matter what happens in South Korea, we better not let them down.

Be a sport. Keep playing.
@ippusultan

]]>0Hindustan Timeshttp://blogs.hindustantimes.com/sportoholic/?p=7412014-07-31T10:19:55Z2014-07-31T10:19:55ZThe Wikipedia descriptor for Formula 1 world championship reads “highest class of single-seat auto racing”. One would imagine the keyword being racing. Last weekend’s Hungarian grand prix, though, threw up a new reason why the racing bit has become a little sketchy: team orders.

If determinants such as conditional speed advantage (drag-reduction system), mid-season clampdown on creative engineering (FIA plugging the linked-suspension ‘loophole’) have become the new ways F1 sacrifices the virginity of competition for the sake of spectacle, team orders have been a rather persistent thorn in the sport’s side for decades now.

So when the Lewis Hamilton refused to heed a rather unexpected order to give way to Nico Rosberg, who – despite being more composed than his the Mercedes teammate this season – is yet to earn the definite article by the stickler yardsticks of the F1-aratti, outrage was in order.

The first to speak out, obviously, was Hamilton. The Briton not only has an insuppressible desire to win but has also grown up in the only school of motorsport that has consistently opposed the practice of telling drivers how to race: McLaren.

Hamilton, who has had far too many Number 1-or-bust days in his career, is rightly justified in defying his team even though many can argue that he is less solid a contender for the world title than Rosberg.

He, like Sebastien Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna, has been a ruthless racer. And teams such as Mercedes, Ferrari, and McLaren — more recently, Red Bull as well — show the same fortitude in their engineering. Team orders, then, can only be belittling to them.

But, they are a reality. And there existence likely stems from F1’s secretive rewards system. Mercedes reckoned if Nico was let through, he could have taken the lead. The two together would have fetched the team 40 points, instead of the 27 they earned last Sunday. Those 13 points would have likely meant millions of dollars at the end of the season.

But money is tertiary to these drivers and Hamilton, closest yet to winning a second world title in the last half-decade, was well aware of the risks of letting his teammate through.

Hamilton’s defiance has precedence. Last year in March, Vettel ignored a veiled ‘Multi-21’ message, telling him not to challenge his then teammate Mark Webber. He did anyway, pulled off a spectacularly dangerous move that would have probably given many a Red Bull engineer mini heart attacks, and won the Malaysian GP.

But in recent memory, the instances of the meek relenting outnumber moments such as Hamilton’s and Rosberg’s. In 2002, Ferrari made Rubens Barrichello to move over for Michael Schumacher mere meters from the finishing line. That incident, which earned the sport a lot of flak, prompted the governing body FIA to ban such directives ‘that altered the outcome of a race’.

Until 2010, that is, when teams started getting craftier and sending out coded messages. Coincidentally, it was Ferrari again and Barrichello’s compatriot Felipe Massa at the receiving end of the Italian marquee team’s questionable ethics.

Massa was given a rather curt “Fernando is faster than you”, a veiled message telling him to let the other Ferrari through.

If one were to put Vettel, Alonso or Schumacher in the second of the two Mercedes last Sunday, there would have possibly been a pyrrhic battle at Hungaroring. Not an agonizing ‘why’s he not letting me through’ moment.

It’s certainly not a matter of crucifying Massas, Rosbergs or Webbers for not being Schumachers, Hamiltons or Vettels. It’s a matter of preserving the spirit of sporting, which can only happen if FIA bans team orders and other such manipulative practices.

Unless it does, there will only be turmoil within teams, frustration among the drivers and brickbats from the fans.

But, then again, that makes for good drama.

Binayak Dasgupta
binayak.dasgupta@hindustantimes.com

]]>0Hindustan Timeshttp://blogs.hindustantimes.com/sportoholic/?p=7292014-04-25T18:38:57Z2014-04-25T16:04:29ZKeyboard warriors active on social media and conventional media took Mumbai’s case through much of vote day on April 24, but people of the Maximum City swung for the fences in the slog overs to notch up a creditable half-century.

Mumbai’s voter turnout of nearly 53% pales in comparison to the numbers notched up by Delhi and Chennai, but stands out because of its reputation for gettting bogged down on V-Day.

Thursday started giving off vibes that it would be no different for the stereotyped indifferent Mumbai voter.

The city’s favourite son Sachin Tendulkar, however, led front the front on his 41st birthday. He was off to a quick start, sealing two early votes in partnership with wife Anjali.

Then, all the familiar signs were back. At 11am, the turnout score after the first four hours of poll play stood at 15.20%.

For long Mumbai has been known for its spirit, but taken a beating for its temperament on poll days. So much like Rohit Sharma, another outrageously talented Mumbai cricketer who was exasperatingly inconsistent till about a year ago.

Sharma has turned the corner. Here was Mumbai’s chance to move past the indifferent image.

But the same old, same old bogey kept surfacing. In the face of a barrage of bouncers from the media and social media, Mumbai kept consolidating and crept up to 26% turnout at 1pm.

It became clear voting was not to be at T20 pace. There was, however, hope for a Test-style showing in the city with the richest cricketing pedigree in the country.

In the post-lunch session, voters across Mumbai’s six Lok Sabha constituencies began accumulating a score that could, at least, be defendable in the face of familiar criticism.

At 3pm, 40 minutes before conventional tea break on the field, the turnout stood at 35%.

I have voted, have you? A wonderful start to my birthday, as a responsible citizen of our great nation. pic.twitter.com/RXAtisMwqq

News of stars from celeb city being in US for an event and not being there to vote gained traction. But many of the big guns of Hindi cinema were very much around and playing for Mumbai.

Meenakshi, this sportoholic’s colleague and a Mumbaikar, was subjected to usual criticism over her city voting in slow motion. She snapped and exercised her right as a Mumbaikar to fume at “my city, my people”.

Little did Meenakshi’s tormentors, this sportoholic included, know Mumbai had assessed the pitch and was opening up!

Voter action picked up in the final stretch, boundaries were being hit and pushed as well. Mumbaikars queued up and got inked in this post-tea session to score a half-century and then some.

A turnout of nearly 53% does not shatter any national, or even, state record, but is respectable and encouraging. It is the highest in more than two decades and over 11% more than in 2009.

For this sportoholic, the player of the match is the Mumbai voter. To know about politicians who won and lost, keep your date with May 16.

]]>0Hindustan Timeshttp://blogs.hindustantimes.com/sportoholic/?p=7232014-02-26T11:40:48Z2014-02-25T18:36:01ZGerman magazine Focus claims doctors have given up hope of reviving Formula One legend Michael Schumacher from an induced coma. He has been lying in a hospital bed in France since December last year, when his head smashed into a rock in a skiing accident.

While those close to Schumacher insist attempts to bring back the seven-time world champion are still on, my heart tells me the reports of Schumacher slipping can’t be true — simply because he can’t go out like this. No.

His life has been grand. And when the end comes, it needs to be only too grand.

Schumacher is the epitome of the phrase ‘larger than life’. The iconic tale of his life and career transcends sports, much like Sachin Tendulkar’s. Even those who don’t know the first thing about motorsports have heard of Schumacher.

They have heard there exists a man who drove with nerves of steel; a man who is outrageously rich because of how good he is at his job.

Back when I was 13, I used to call the driver of my school bus ‘Michael Schumacher’. Why? Because he took the wheel of a vehicle so huge and made it move like a nimble buggy. I knew little about professional racing then, but I knew who Schumacher was. To millions, racing and Schumacher are still synonyms.

Upon reading or hearing about Schumacher’s professional achievements, one is convinced that winning has been an obsession for the German. He racked up victories and titles like it was cakewalk for him. He has seven world titles to his name, five of them back to back. In total, the F1 driver has won 91 races.

“Michael Schumacher is the greatest of the adventurers,” Juan Manuel Fangio, pioneering legend of F1, once said. The German has never taken it easy in life. Schumacher took up motorcycling, skydiving, skiing and horse-riding after his first retirement.

A controversy’s child, the German great has regularly been criticised for his arrogance and unpleasant tactics. While he has burnt many bridges by the virtue of these traits, they show that the only goal in Schumacher’s life has been winning.

The winner’s autobiography requires a majestic and ceremonious end. Passing away silently in a hospital bed because he tripped on a rock at the speed of 40 km per hour just doesn’t seem like it. It’s not closure for his fans yet.

And then, there is this possibility of the ‘fighter’ springing back to life. To be standing on his feet and telling the world he survived another of his adventurous exploits. I wish it was an alternate ending I could choose for Schumacher — like I chose the endings in ‘Goosebumps’ comic books as a kid.

After all, he once said: “I prefer to be described as a fighter, someone who never backs down.” Doctors need to wake Schumacher up so he has that fighting chance.

]]>0Hindustan Timeshttp://blogs.hindustantimes.com/sportoholic/?p=7152014-02-13T19:57:16Z2014-02-13T19:55:52ZThis sportoholic is on thin ice with this one because he knows as much of Sochi Winter Olympics as his 5-month-old neighbour Kyra knows of IPL auctions, Yuvraj Singh and Rs 14 crore.

But there is a compelling desire to share the experience of an outsider who fell in love with figure skating late on Wednesday night after having spent the day hawkishly tracking auctions for India’s cash-rich T20 league.

FIRE ON ICE: Russia’s Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov turned in stunning performance to become the first figure skaters to capture two gold medals at the same Olympics by winning the pairs title on Wednesday. (AFP)

Pair after pair came out gliding at Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi and pulled off jaw-dropping moves without a hair going out of place. Obviously, some pairs were cooler than others and the commentators kept pointing out negatives.

For the uninitiated, as yours truly, the commentators could very well have been nitpicking.

The degree of difficulty being attempted, the precision and effortless power on display brought to mind a line from the 1999 Hollywood movie American Beauty. It goes: “… Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can’t take it, and my heart is just going to cave in.”

What was happening in the pairs’ figure skating event looked as beautiful and as heart-breaking.

Russians Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov swept up the gold. They were odds-on favourites and looked the part for the entire duration. Their body language bordered on the verge of arrogance even as they looked angelic and imposing at the same time.

All of that was just a put-on, as it emerged later. Immediately after finishing their winning routine to Jesus Christ Superstar, Trankov let out a feral cry even as Volosozhar let the tears roll down.

The mask came off and it was humbling to see they were humans.

Russia bagged the silver as well, through Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov. This pair was apparently not as highly rated, but their performance peaked, egged on by a boisterous home crowd.

Germany’s Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy finished third.

For this new convert, one of the moments of the event was the final performance of the Chinese pair of Pang Qing and Tong Jian.

CHINESE SWEETHEARTS: Qing Pang and Tong Jian finished their two-decade career with a creditable fourth place finish (AFP)

This was the last competitive performance of these Chinese sweethearts, silver medallists from Vancouver four years ago.

The veterans rounded off their two-decade career with a creditable fourth place finish.

This event gave your sportoholic all the ingredients to fall in love with.

There was art, there was heart, there was beauty, there was purity and it was for sport. Can’t complain.

Be a sport. Keep playing.

Ipsit Mohapatra

]]>0Hindustan Timeshttp://blogs.hindustantimes.com/sportoholic/?p=7072014-01-12T09:32:35Z2014-01-10T20:32:38ZJammu and Kashmir are playing real dogged cricket this Ranji Trophy and seem in no mood to let up after having broken new ground.

The unfancied team of our troubled state is in the domestic cricket championship’s quarter-finals for the first time and is giving star-studded Punjab the fight of its life in their ongoing encounter at Vadodara.

J&K skipper Parvez Rasool exemplified the team’s intensity best with a fighting century on Thursday. The team, however, fell agonisingly short of Punjab’s first innings total.

On Friday, he came good for the second successive day, taking five wickets. Punjab, however, fought hard and set J&K a target of 324. J&K knocked off 77, but lost 2 wickets. It sure is an uphill battle on Saturday, but J&K have little to lose and everything to gain.

Punjab certainly won’t make the mistake of taking a semi-final spot for granted.

J&K’s journey this season is as heartwarming as they come. No matter how Saturday ends, when an against-the-odds list is drawn up, this J&K team will be on it.

What about their match fees?

The J&K players have not been paid their match fees in two years. It has been blocked because of an ongoing inquiry into financial bungling in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association.

Chief minister Omar Abdullah’s father Farooq Abdullah, the Union minister for new and renewable energy, is the president of the association.

Now, Omar is as big a cricket lover as you and I. It surely must be disappointing for him that his state’s boys are not being paid their match fees.

He was cut to the quick when Rasool was not given a chance to play an ODI against Zimbabwe. Political motives thrown up as reasons for Rasool’s rise are known to upset him as well. He loves the game, so ensuring players get their dues should figure somewhere in the list of priorities.

Hear, hear. Here’s Rasool’s take

Rasool, who is tipped to play for India someday, has already spoken his mind on the subject.

“You know, we haven’t got any match fees for the last two years. But none of the players has ever complained although cricket is our livelihood. I believe this is the dedication, determination and discipline that has made us believe that we can beat any team,” the off-spinner had said after his team made the quarters.

“Considering other state associations, we don’t even get 15% of those facilities. This speaks of the determination that these boys have showed in reaching this level. The quality of cricket at the first-class level has gone up and to measure up you need the best infrastructure.”

Passion driving this talented bunch

The team making it to the quarters made many sit up and take notice. But the response from the media in the state, Kashmir in particular, was lukewarm. According to a colleague from Kashmir, only one valley-based daily front-paged the achievement.

Come on, hail your players, support the team. Life is tough for a Kashmiri cricketer. No play is possible for at least four months a year due to snow. This bunch is hardy and sturdy. What is their fault if they have fallen in love with a game and are doing wonderfully well at it? Moreover, they are your torchbearers in a way that politicians never will be.

Spotlight of the unwanted kind

Rasool, who will soon turn 25, has survived a torrid experience.

In November 2009, the talented all-rounder from Bijbehara village in south Kashmir, hit the headlines for non-cricketing reasons.

In Bangalore for an U-22 match, he was detained by the Karnataka Police at Chinnaswamy Stadium for allegedly being involved in a terrorist attack. The police had claimed traces of explosives were found in his kit. He was released after a forensic investigation cleared his name.

Rasool has moved on, but the system has not.

Around midnight on December 24 last year, the police questioned some players from the team, which was in Jammu for a Ranji Trophy match against Hyderabad.

On the lookout for suspected Hizbul Mujahideen militant Qayoom Asgar, the police knocked on the players’ hotel doors at the late hour — before the final day of play.

Rasool later told a Kashmir-based website the police did not search the players’ rooms and only asked for identity cards. The Jammu police also denied that the players were harassed or humiliated.

The matter should have ended there. Sadly, it did not. Rasool faced flak from some Kashmiris on the social media. They accused him of underplaying the issue because he did not want to harm his chances of making it to the Indian team.

This man is being put through the grinder. From the looks of it, he does not need any favours to make it as an international player. Do him a favour, get off his back.